Simulation, virtual reality and augmented reality is a growing industry and stands to supplement, and in some cases, replace conventional training atmospheres. Using these unique technologies, real-time interaction is imperative in order for a user to become immersed in the computer environment. Thus the primary goal when creating any simulation, virtual reality or augmented reality environment is to ensure a seamless simulated environment. The slightest lag, interruption, or required break in such environments can ruin or interrupt the environment, thus making such training ineffective. Operational uses of tracking devices, particularly for combat equipment such as machine guns and other devices requiring positional accuracy, require similar or better performance as interactive training devices.
Advancements in the communication lag between the information source and simulated environment displays are disclosed in Publication No. WO 2016/205800, published Dec. 22, 2016, the contents of which are incorporated by reference. However, issues in providing an uninterrupted simulated environment arise when equipment is used in an augmented or virtual reality environment, or in operational circumstances.
The current systems and methods employed for tracking positions of interactive equipment use inertial measurement unit sensors (IMU) which employ combinations of magnetometers, accelerometers, and gyroscopes to determine an equipment's position in a simulated environment. These IMU's are affixed directly to the equipment or the simulated equipment.
One issue is that the position information of the interactive equipment, such as (but not limited to) turrets, guns, or tools must be tracked such that a user movement of the interactive equipment can be tracked in the simulated or augmented environment. Problems occur in the current methods such as position drift. Position drift is a condition where the real object's position is different from the virtual representation of the object, and/or the virtual object moves or drifts without physical movement. This often occurs as a result of a current IMU sensor mounted directly on the equipment. These sensors can introduce significant drift which requires frequent resets during training, and loss of confidence of trainees concerning accuracy, as well as loss of the mental immersion impact of virtual training. This is particularly prominent in weapon engagement training.
In order to correct the drift induced by IMUs and other sensors, existing equipment tracking devices and methods usually require a complete reset of the simulated environment and calibration of the equipment tracker in order to bring the equipment back online in the training environment such that the equipment can reestablish a point of reference which is then input back in to the simulated environment. It should be appreciated that this causes loss of valuable training time, interrupting training scenarios, and degrading training outcomes.
Another common occurrence in simulated scenarios using interactive equipment is that users may want to change out the interactive equipment being used, (such as changing weapons). With the current equipment tracking methods and sensors, users must reattach and recalibrate the tracking system, again causing more non-training time and additional labor expenditure.
As is the case for all training of weapons and targeting devices, as well as operational employment of weapons and targeting devices, high accuracy is required. Some sensors and trackers, such as IMUs, are only accurate to within a few degrees, which can cause errors in 10's of meters off target, or the tracking device accuracy is less than the actual weapon accuracy, which is unacceptable. Therefore, there exists a strong need for high and consistent accuracy for weapon tracking systems for training and operations.
Thus there remains an unmet need to provide a tracking system or method for interactive equipment in a simulated or augmented environment, or for operational uses, that does not have drift, is highly accurate, allows for swapping out equipment without having to reset, and can be powered off or on in a simulated environment without having to reset the simulated or augmented environment.